October

7 Mondays & 1 Tuesday,                                                         September 24                                                                                  Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 30
November 5, 12

7:30 pm -9:30 pm
The Collected Works Reading Program
Volume 5: Symbols of Transformation

Jung's Symbols of Transformation, first published in 1911-12, went to a depth and insight in its analysis of the collective psyche which forever separated Jung from Freud and created a new level of scientific discourse in depth psychology. Extensively revised in 1952, Symbols of Transformation has long been a veritable one-volume library of comparative mythology, case analysis, and exposition revealing Jung's understanding of the process of symbol formation from archetypal energies and their key role in our life. Jung's insights in this book lead to many of the central concepts and dynamic understandings in current everyday depth psychology. As such it is essential reading for anyone who wants to have an understanding of the individuation process.


In this course we will read Symbols of Transformation over the course of eight weeks, beginning with Jung's questioning of what myth means to a conscious life; the reading then focuses on logical thinking and the development of civilization from imaginative and receptive modes of being in the psyche. Utilizing the spontaneous fantasies of a young woman, Jung exposes the archetypal structure of instinctual development, its connection with the godhead, and its elaboration in psychotherapy and religion. The symbol and psychology of the hero, the god-man, and the development of modern ego consciousness reverberate throughout his development of Miss Miller's fantasies. In the process, Jung demonstrates not only his own scientific development but establishes a paradigm of the individuation process as an individual task.

J. Gordon Nelson , Ph.D.,  Jungian analyst in Santa Monica has taught the entire Collected Works Reading Program over two complete 20 volume cycles in the last several years, as well as many individual courses in Jung's works. He is past President of C. G. Jung Institute, and currently Chair of its Certifying Board for new analysts.

6 Fridays                                                                                     September 28                                                                                  Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 
November 2 

8:00 pm -10:00 pm
The Analytical Psychology Club Presents
Consciousness:  The Search for Meaning

"The need for mythic statements is satisfied when we frame a view of the world which adequately explains the meaning of human existence in the cosmos, a view which springs from our psychic wholeness, from the cooperation between conscious and unconscious. Meaninglessness inhibits fullness of life and is therefore equivalent to illness. Meaning makes a great many things endurable---perhaps everything."                    
                                                                 C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

September 28, 8-10 p.m.                                                            States of Desire and the Archetype of Meaning
Barry Miller, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst 
The psyche in erotic states brings the individual to profound and confounding images and yearnings, leaving the conscious mind little possibility of pursuing the meaning inherent in these desires. A sensation oriented culture, while offering much needed acceptance of sexuality, may also devalue the work of establishing meaning. It is with a symbolic attitude that insight is revealed into the dynamic intentions of compelling states of desire, forming a basis for an encounter with meaning.

 October 5, 8-10 p.m.                                                                  The Need for Meaning
J. Marvin Spiegelman, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst 
In the face of the ambiguity of life, the human need for meaning stands out as fundamental. This need will be addressed from several perspectives, centering finally on the problem of evil.

 
October 12, 8-10 p.m.                                                              Taking the Matter in Hand
Nancy Swift Furlotti, M.A., Jungian Analyst 
Easily overlooked, the image of the Hand is universal and archetypal in its cultural, mythological and psychological significance. In fact, it is a powerful and engaging symbol representing a bridge between the unconscious and conscious realms. To grasp the meaning of this symbol, I will lead you on a journey of amplification through its collective, worldly expressions to its inner manifestations as it appears in dreams.

October 19, 8-10 p.m.                                                                  The Fate of America
Michael Gellert, Director of Training, C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
"The most interesting thing of all," Jung concluded in his study of the American collective unconscious, "is that this childlike, impetuous, ‘naive’ America has probably the most complicated psychology of all nations."  This talk will consist of selected readings by the author from his new book, The Fate of America: An Inquiry into National Character, and will focus on the American psyche and its influence on our history, culture and survival as a civilization.

October 26, 8-10 p.m.                                                        Menopause: A Time to Find New Meaning
Harriet Friedman, M.A., Jungian Analyst
Sandplay creations will be used to illustrate a menopausal woman’s journey, moving from a state of despair toward psychic reorganization.

November 2, 8-10 p.m.                                                           Meaning: The Experience of Daily Life
Gilda Frantz, M.A., Jungian Analyst 
In his last journal entry Thoreau was observing a tiny pebble pushed down the road by a rivulet of water. He wrote that it was in the small events that life’s larger issues are seen. Our search for meaning is often found in the everydayness of our lives.

Monday,  October 29
7:30 - 9:30 pm
Attacks on Jung:  A Psychological Perspective 

The recent books by Richard Noll, The Jung Cult and The Aryan Christ, and by Frank McLynn, Carl Gustav Jung, have attacked Jung as well as Jungian Psychology. This paper addresses the Jungian community’s defensive responses to these attacks, which participate in an attack-defense polarization, and attempts to search for a third, transcending position. We can do this if we look at these attacks symbolically. They represent shadow features of the Jungian group, which include attacks on each other that are hurtful and destructive; they call for renewal of one’s identity as a Jungian; and they point to collective unconscious issues that are demanding the light of consciousness in the current transition to the Aquarian aeon.

Steven J. Frank, Ph.D., is  a clinical psychologist and a Jungian analyst in Los Angeles. Director of the Kieffer E. Frantz Clinic, and former administrative Director of the Hilde Kirsch Children’s Center of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles.